


The Curse of the Beast Named Grendel

by unLocked_boX



Category: Beowulf - All Media Types
Genre: Backstory, Gen, I wrote this for school, Mentions of Violence, but it actually turned out pretty well so, pre-beowulf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unLocked_boX/pseuds/unLocked_boX
Summary: How Grendel became a monster.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to give Grendel a backstory as to why he became a killer because in the poem he kind of just kills people for no reason? Rarely does someone do something with the specific intent to be evil. This is my interpretation of what might have caused Grendel to do the things he did.

Grendel was cursed. He had been since the day of his conception. He was cursed to be a monster, because of his ancestor’s transgressions. Cain had killed his brother back when the world had just barely formed; consequently, his posterity bore the punishment for the rest of eternity. Among Grendel’s cousins were hulking giants, gruesome trolls, and enormous serpents that could shoot flame from their nostrils.

Grendel himself was a great hairy beast with hooked claws, pointed teeth, and great horns like a ram. His curse had its benefits, like strength and power and longevity, but it meant that he was alone. No one would accept this animal as their friend or even sell him bread at the market. No, they would run and let out blood-curdling screams. 

He found this out first hand when he was still young and naïve and hadn’t yet realized he was different. Before he knew that when you have claws like Grendel’s, people assume that you use them. 

And he does use them.

He uses them because the Danes leave him no choice. 

After his first brief incident with the townspeople, Grendel had resolved to live his life in solitude in his marsh. However, this was not good enough for the Danes. Now that they knew there was a monster so near, they couldn’t just leave him alone, couldn’t let him live! They sent out raids to plunder his home, warriors to cut off his head, hunters to put arrows through his heart. 

Grendel might not have wanted to hurt people, but he didn’t want to die either. He would defend himself, and he would defend his home. 

So, Grendel fought. And he fought and he fought. He fought until he became addicted to the feeling of bones crunching, skin splitting, and blood gushing. He fought until no one came to his marsh anymore, and instead he had to venture to their mead hall, Herot, to soothe his newfound craving for slaughter. He fought until they had the sense to run, and even then he hunted them like the deer the Danes’ great hall was named for.

When he saw the blood on his hands and the corpses on the ground he felt no remorse. After all, if this is all they would see, then this is all he could be.

In the end, he became the monster that they all thought he was. 


End file.
